Hondros's images from Iraq, especially a January 2005 picture series detailing the shooting of an Iraqi family by U.S. troops, were published extensively and garnered worldwide acclaim and criticism.

On January 18, 2005, an Iraqi family was traveling in a car which failed to stop at a U.S. checkpoint in Tal Afar. Thinking it was a suicide bomber, U.S. troops opened fire, killing both parents and paralyzing one of their five children sitting in the back seat. As a result of the worldwide interest in his case generated by Hondros's pictures, the boy, Rakan Hassan, was later flown to the United States for treatment in a Boston hospital, but was murdered in a bombing by insurgents shortly after his return.[9]

Hondros won dozens of international awards for the images.[10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17] One of his pictures of this tragedy is likely to become "one of the few photos from the Iraq war that could stand out in history" according to Liam Kennedy, a professor at University College Dublin.[18]

In an interview, Hondros stated:

“

Almost every soldier in Iraq has been involved in some sort of incident like that or another, I would say. Their attitude about it was grim, but it wasn’t the end of their world. It was, “Well, kind of wished they’d stopped. We fired warning shots. Damn, I don’t know why the hell they didn’t stop. What’re you doing later, you want to play Nintendo? Okay.” Just a day’s work for them. That stuff happens in Iraq a lot.[17]

It was reported on April 20, 2011, that Hondros had been fatally wounded in a mortar attack by government forces in Misrata while covering the 2011 Libyan civil war. Photojournalist Tim Hetherington was also killed in the attack, which wounded two other photographers.[19] Photojournalists Guy Martin said that the group was traveling with rebel fighters.[20][21] According to The New York Times, Hondros died from his injuries as a result of severe brain trauma.[22]

The Chris Hondros Fund is a nonprofit organization established in 2011 in the memory of Hondros and his life's work.[23] The fund's mission is to provide non-profit institutions with grants to advocate for photojournalists. One fellowship for attendance to the Eddie Adams Workshop will be offered annually along with one other fellowship awarded by application.[23]

The first fellowship was awarded in 2012 by Getty Images and the Chris Hondros Fund.[24]

Author Greg Campbell launched a Kickstarter campaign in 2013 to produce a documentary named Hondros: A Life in Frames.[25] The project was launched with an initial goal of $30,000.00 and became fully funded within three days with a total of $89,639.00 raised.[26][27]

Campbell and Hondros met and became best friends in high school.[26][28] After Hondros' death, Campbell was contacted by Liberian Joseph Duo, who was the subject of one of Hondros' most famous photographs.[27] Campbell learned that Hondros had returned to Liberia to help Duo earn his high school, college, and eventually law school education.[27]